


Things Friends Do

by cruelest_month



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Team Dynamics, Teambuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-17
Updated: 2012-05-17
Packaged: 2017-11-05 12:44:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/406526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruelest_month/pseuds/cruelest_month
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many things friends do. There are many things Avengers do. Some of these things include feeding ducks, flying kites, helping friends feel brave, building up a friend's confidence, going to a carnival, and making crafts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Friends Do

**Friends…**

**make crafts**

Thor had the sinking suspicion that Tony did not want him in the lab when he was working on experiments with Bruce. All the same, he didn’t mind being given simple tasks. Such as the time Tony insisted it was very important to learn if oranges could sink or float. 

Thor had tested the seven oranges available to him, and had kept a detailed record of his steps. Coulson had been displeased, but the oranges had survived their submersion and had been perfectly edible. 

Today he was to make a stick of rain. The parts he had been given seemed unlikely to provide him with the right level of power, but he followed the instructions to the letter eager to prove himself.

“I have a feeling I don’t want to know but… What are you doing, Thor?”

Thor smiled up at Natasha. “I am making a rain stick.” 

She sighed and pulled up a chair. “Why?”

“Tony feels I need something to do.”

“Tony’s an ass,” she said. 

Thor shrugged and put the finishing touches on his roll of cardboard.

Natasha tugged the stick of rain away. “I have a better idea. Stop doing that and I’ll be right back.”

She headed upstairs and came back down with Clint at her heels. The archer gave Thor a sharp salute and a smirk. Then they left.

Thor waited, shaking the stick of rain. He debated testing the newest batch of oranges, but when he reached for them, he found a note of post-it that indicated he was not to touch Coulson’s produce. 

Natasha and Clint returned an hour later, both of them grinning. 

“This is not a stick of rain.”

“No,” Natasha agreed, “but this is.”

Clint handed him a silver wand with a large green dial at its base.  
“What might this be?”

Clint laughed. “This might be a weather wand from R&D. It’s a prototype so it won’t work for long.”

“It will work better than your stick of rain.”

“Then I shall show Tony at once.”

“Do that,” Natasha suggested. “But don’t show Bruce, okay? He’s not a fan of rain.”

Thor nodded his comprehension. 

Clint clasped Thor’s shoulder and smiled warmly. “Next time you need something to do, find one of us.”

“I do not mind—” 

“You should,” Clint insisted. “You definitely should.”

“You’re a god,” Natasha agreed. “Oranges and paper tubes are for children. And not very bright children either.”

“Truly?” Thor asked.

“Truly,” Natasha said solemnly.

Thor grimaced. “I do not appreciate sport being made of myself or my endeavors. Can this wand provide me with more than rain?”

Natasha smirked. “That depends. What did you have in mind?”

 

**go to a carnival**

Charity work was exhausting. Tony had never been a fan of it when kids weren’t involved, and he was even less of a fan of it when they were. 

From the dunking booth, he could see a beaming Steve signing autographs. Somewhere to his left, the Hulk was pushing the merry-go-round on its track. And out of the corner of his eye he could see Thor breaking the Strongman game much to the amusement of several teenagers and Natasha. 

He had no idea where Clint was, but Old Eagle Eye seemed about ready to have a panic attack when Tony told them about the carnival. So he was probably nesting in a tree somewhere or taking a nap. 

In front of him was a short freckled kid who was trying his damnedest to knock a tennis ball up against the target that will pitch Tony into the water. All of this was in order to win a large stuffed pink-and-white panda. Tony had initially thought the game was rigged, but after twenty minutes, he was pretty sure it was just that the boy had lousy aim.

On dollar ten, Tony had to say something.

“Maybe it’s broken,” Tony said. “Definitely seems broken. I’d try another game.” 

There were some more aims and some more misses. The kid handed over another dollar for three tennis balls. 

“Or you can keep throwing things the wrong way. That works too.”

“Be nice, Tony,” Pepper insisted as she added another dollar to the sizable stack she was holding. “This is for charity.”

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Tony yawned. Then he looked around as the kid did everything but hit the target in front of him.

Steve was sitting under a tree boring a herd of happy children with tales of by gone days. Said children are hanging on his every word. Tony hoped they’d eventually grow out of it. 

The Hulk growled and went on strike, lumbering off into the distance. 

Thor had apparently been appeased with an offering of a family of stuffed penguins in exchange for finding something else to do with his time. Tony suspected the god would end up parceling each fluffy critter out to the saddest looking kids he could find.

A tennis ball came very close to hitting the target before Tony looked back over at the kid. Then he blinked and frowned.

“Hey, Tony.” 

“Hello, Clint. What are you doing?”

“I’m helping out. For charity.” Hawkeye turned to the kid and grinned. “See, the key is to take your time. Or try an overhand throwing motion. It’s not about throwing harder, it’s about throwing smarter.”

“Isn’t this cheating?” Tony asked. “Pepper, I think this is cheating.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “This might be seen as cheating, Agent Barton” Her tone indicated no real interest in what Clint did with the information.

Clint gave Pepper a fifty. 

“And now it’s perfectly fine,” she said. 

“Oh, come on,” Tony whined. Then he was dunked into some of the foulest water ever three times in a row.

“I was wrong,” Clint said when Tony resurfaced for a third time. “I like these team outings. Thanks for making me tag along.”

“Don’t mention it,” Tony insisted.

 

**feed the ducks**

Bruce was hoping that doing something that was relatively pointless would coax Thor into cheering up. Ever since their latest skirmish with Loki and Jane deciding she needed even more space than she already had, Thor had been really, really down. Bruce wasn’t sure his proposed activity would help, but it was worth a shot.

“And so the Feeding of the Ducks provides you with much needed solace?” Thor asked, eying the stale bread Bruce was carrying.

“Sometimes. Even when it doesn’t, the ducks have a good time.”

“I trust that these ducks show the appropriate amount of gratitude for this kindness. Should one fail to do so and attack us, I shall—”

Bruce laughed. “I appreciate the offer but… Ducks are pretty non-lethal, Thor. Most of them just swim around and quack.”

“All the while secretly plotting dire deeds only to be thwarted by the brave and the noble?”

Bruce smiled sheepishly. “All the while trying to look cute in the hopes that we will provide them with bread.”

Thor frowned. “That sounds a bit dull, friend Banner.”

“Trust me, you’ll like it.”

The park was quiet, and all of the ducks were congregated on the far side of the pond. Bruce pointed them out and Thor seemed remarkably underwhelmed. He stood at the edge of the pond with his arms crossed. 

Bruce patiently scattered crumbs over the water. He didn’t mind waiting for the ducks to come or for Thor to unwind a bit. 

As the ducks began circling and occasionally fighting one another for bread, the god chuckled before moving closer.

“They are entertaining,” Thor decided, eagerly snatching up a chunk of crust. “May I feed them?” 

“Sure. Just make sure to break the bread up for them.”

Thor tossed the crumbs at the water’s surface with a bit more force than was necessary. But none of the ducks seemed to mind. 

When they ran out of bread, Thor nudged Bruce with his shoulder and smiled. “I like ducks.”

“Me too,” Bruce said. 

 

**make you feel brave**

Natasha was one hell of a useful team member. There were times when she was a bad team player, but so was anyone else involved in the Avengers Initiative. Besides, but if someone had to watch his back, Steve wanted it to be her. It’s just that he found it difficult to tell her. Not without accidentally calling her ma’am one time too many.

“I appreciate to offer. I’d rather stay here,” she said, shoving the file for Emil Blonsky aka The Abomination back across the table.

“Do you have a problem with Dr. Banner?”

She shook her head. “None whatsoever.”

“The green guy?”

Steve was surprised when she didn’t hesitate for even a second before nodding. 

Steve considered this. “It makes sense. The green guy scares me too sometimes.”

Natasha met his gaze steadily, but her indifference seemed a bit strained around the edges. As if she wanted to tell him where to shove his attempt at sympathy because there was no way for him to understand what it would be like to take on the Hulk without the benefit of being a super soldier.

“He’s on our side though,” Steve added. “I trust Bruce.”

“It’s not about a lack of trust,” Natasha said in an admonishing tone. “It’s about knowing what I can and cannot do, Steve. And I cannot be of use out in the field when the main objective is to protect the Hulk.”

“Because?”

“Because this isn’t a mission that requires my specific skill set.”

Steve eyed her sternly. “No offense, Natasha, but that’s bull and you’re smart enough to know it. We’re a team. We’re going to need you just as much as we need anyone else.” 

She mulled this over without looking away. The look she gave him was softer, but no less determined and forceful than before. 

“There is never going to be a mission you can’t improve,” Steve said.

Natasha’s lips quirked up into a smile. “I guess I don’t have a choice then.”

 

**fly kites**

Natasha wasn’t sure how watching the Hulk fly kites would make her feel better about the green guy, but Rogers had been right about one thing. It didn’t make her feel worse. 

Stark was having a great time telling the Hulk how to do a better job of tugging on the string. Rogers was countering Stark’s suggestions with some of his own. 

Thor was patiently waiting to get a turn with the kite, despite how many times he’d been swatted out of the way. And there was something a little soothing and very maddening about watching the god take hit after hit as if it was nothing at all.

Coulson had taken one look at the spectacle and gone back inside. Whether he was going to read a book or simply resign was hard to tell. 

Barton was watching everything from a branch on one of the tall trees to the Hulk’s right. 

Natasha sighed inwardly, glaring up at him. It seemed unfair that he could duck out like that. If she had to enter into the spirit of things, it was only right that he had to as well. 

This was the first thing that occurred to her. 

The second was that being in a tree while the Hulk was flying a kite was a very bad decision.

Around the time she had this second thought, the kite got tangled up in Clint’s tree. 

She swore in Russian. 

Barton swore in English. 

The Hulk smashed. 

“Oh for crying out loud,” said Rogers as the tree wobbled and began to topple over. 

“Hulk. Uh. Prevent?” Stark suggested.

The Hulk grunted agreeably, grabbing the tree trunk roughly and straightening it. 

Barton still fell out of the swaying branches, but Rogers caught him. Natasha could see America’s first superhero silently weighing the pros and cons of dropping the archer on his head. In the end, Barton got set down on his feet.

“Next time tell someone,” Steve said.

“Seriously?” Barton asked. “I have ask your permission whenever I want to climb a tree?”

“No. Not if you can refrain from doing so the next time the Hulk is flying a kite.”

Clint seemed to be torn between irritation and amusement. "This is going to be a regular occurence?" 

“Not today,” Thor insisted as he joined them. "It is my turn now to do so."

Coulson came back outside with a grim look on his face and a large pair of scissors in one hand. He snipped the kite from its strings. Then he carried the kite inside in spite of Thor’s loud protests.

Natasha crossed her arms with a smirk. She was looking forward to reminding Rogers that he owed her ten bucks.

 

**build up a friend’s confidence**

Clint was no stranger to karaoke, and neither was Tony so it was only a matter of time before they turn Wednesdays into Karaoke Battle Royale. The event was basically mandatory and the only one who was able to avoid being forced into it was Coulson because they need even teams. 

The first night, Clint pretended to think long and hard about who to have on his team. He chose Bruce and then, after Tony picked Steve, Clint went with Thor. When asked about his decisions, Clint explained that Thor was about as heavy metal as it got, and that he’d caught Bruce singing to test tubes when he thought no one was around. And he sounded really good. 

All of this was true, but there was also a secret desire to keep Bruce from being picked dead last and to get Thor to stop making sad puppy eyes at him. There’s only so many times Clint could say he didn’t have some bizarre grudge against all Asgardians just because Maiming Loki’s Pretty Face is at the top of his Bucket List. 

The first night was a disaster. Tony and Natasha were ruthless with their picks. Thor got saddled with Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” He pretty much cried the whole damn time despite not even knowing what a cowboy was. Bruce got Heart’s “Barracuda” and couldn’t keep up with it. 

Steve, naïve soul that he is, picked George Michael’s “Faith” for Clint. Clint had a hard time singing it with a straight face before and after Coulson reluctantly joined them. 

The next week, they picked their own songs. Clint did well, Bruce seemed determined to suck, and Thor got depressed. The next day, Clint offered to coach Thor and Bruce on the side. He wasn’t sure why they let him, but they both seemed relieved and to like the attention. 

Thor was an awkward performer, unfamiliar with any and all songs. He was also an emotional singer. He couldn’t abide sad stories, but Clint urged him to remember happy times during those sad moments. Or, failing that, Clint suggested that he come up with a happy epilogue of his own for tragic ballads. Clint was more than a little baffled when his advice worked. 

Bruce was a nervous performer. He wavered, he fidgeted, and he kept looking down at critical moments. Clint ignored all the instincts he had to point out Bruce’s many flaws and problems. Instead he offered up compliments and support at an alarming rate. 

They still weren’t able to win for a while, but Clint didn’t give up. He provided so much cheerful enthusiasm that his teeth hurt after each session. But Thor needed time to learn how Midgardian music works, and Bruce teetered between skeptical and skittish for a few weeks. 

When they were finally able to win, it was pretty epic. Clint did a pretty decent job with Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” after Natasha took some small amount of pity on him. But no one expected Thor to maintain dry eyes all the way through Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love,” or for Bruce to actually commit wholeheartedly to Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife.” 

The battles after that are really heated, and neither team ever wins by more than a handful of points. Their teams change a bit and then a rotation gets set up. 

Thor never stays on one team for very long because he gets just too good at singing whatever they throw at him. Clint does his best not to get too caught up in his pupil’s success, but he’s get a bit verklempt when no one’s watching.

Bruce and Clint end up together more often than not. Eventually Bruce stops looking at him every other second for an enthusiastic nod of encouragement, but Clint never quite shakes his feelings of stage motherly pride.

**Author's Note:**

> While trying to come up with things for the Avengers to do, I stumbled on a website for kids called [101 Things Friends Do](http://www.tooter4kids.com/Friendship/101_things_friends_do.htm). The things amused me so much that I picked 6 of them and wrote Avenger Adventures. 
> 
> If you happen to look at the list and there's others you'd like to see, let me know.


End file.
